Aidan Holmes

I personally believe that the best way to learn is to throw yourself into the fire. My teaching style involves tackling different problems, of increasing difficulty, and slowly working through them to understand topics. The advantage of doing this in tutoring, is that unlike in the classroom, there is no consequence for mistakes, no judgement. Challenging yourself and making mistakes is far and away the best way to learn, and my role would be to help you understand these mistakes, identify how to fix them and identify what needs to be done to move forward. Of course, not every student is the same, and I am flexible with how I approach my teaching.

Specifically for English, I would spend a lot of time on essay analysis, identifying what makes a good essay and a bad essay. In doing this, students also massively improve on their literacy, grammar and creative writing skills.

I have taught a range of students, from levels below GCSE/National 5 up until final year University students. Every student is different, and understanding this is key. I have also worked with neurodivergent people who felt very comfortable with my methods and how I guided them through tasks. Ultimately, the biggest barrier most face in education is not the learning aspect, but rather it is the belief in one's on ability to do well. I also focus heavily on this, emphasizing to my students that they can do well and that making mistakes on the way is the best way to learn and succeed. This reassurance is what has helped my students the most, as I find that the majority of people are actually extremely capable, they just have not realised this fact themselves yet. I aim to chance that!